Chapter 334

An Qinghe noticed Gu Xixi's gaze, hastily turned his head aside, and lowered his chin a bit.

Gu Xixi calmly turned away, looking ahead and said, "Was it me who bumped into you when I fell?"

An Qinghe had been worrying about what excuse to make; hearing this, he quickly nodded, "Exactly!"

Just as his words fell, Gu Xixi said, "Really sorry, it's my fault—I can't hold my liquor, I acted disgracefully after drinking. I even forgot my limits and had a few extra cups in a moment of abandon; I'm truly... uh..."

Gu Xixi's tone grew dim, and she let out a soft sigh.

An Qinghe stiffened, his mind still turning, and he blurted out:

"It's not that you hit me; it's... Jian Lan, yes, it's Jian Lan."

Gu Xixi feigned confusion, "You just said..."

"That was my mistake!" An Qinghe declared firmly, "I just remembered—I first bumped into Jian Lan, I pressed him down and we fell together; that's right! It must have been then that my chin struck his."

Gu Xixi glanced at He Jinglan, who was ostensibly "admiring the scenery," and already understood.

One was fickle, his words inconsistent.

The other tried to stay out of it.

There must be some hidden circumstance.

Gu Xixi let out a silent sigh and said, "I see—does your jaw still hurt?"

An Qinghe shook his head vigorously, "No, it's fine, not sore at all!"

"If you don't mention it, I actually hadn't even noticed."

Gu Xixi turned her head and gave him a bright smile, "Then that's good."

An Qinghe felt as if pardoned.

He Jinglan's stiff neck obviously relaxed as well.

Gu Xixi believed neither of them would deliberately conceal it from her; since they insisted on staying silent, it must be something trivial yet embarrassing to mention.

Better not to know, then.

Today's outing to enjoy the spring scenery on the lake had been arranged in advance by He Jinglan.

First they dismounted, took a boat on the lake, drank pre‑rain spring tea, and ate seasonal snacks.

After an hour they came ashore, left the boat, and walked forward along the riverside path.

Willows grew everywhere; the newly sprouted leaves were shifting from pale yellow to tender green, and looking up gave a vista of lush green mist.

Apart from Gu Xixi and the two others, no other sightseers were nearby, so it was very quiet.

As they walked on, birdsong could be heard everywhere, soft and melodious.

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "This place is nice—especially in the capital, where crowds are constant, it's rare to find a spot with no one around; it's perfect for an outing and equally good for a daily stroll."

He Jinglan said, "This is just an ordinary path for now; the place I want to take you to lies ahead."

An Qinghe eagerly pressed for more, but He Jinglan kept it a secret, insisting they see it for themselves when they arrived.

They turned a bend, walked on, then turned another bend.

The vista ahead suddenly opened up.

Both Gu Xixi and An Qinghe's eyes lit up.

What lay ahead was actually a vast expanse of flowering sea.

Endless golden‑yellow forsythia stretched as far as the eye could see, behind it a large peach grove.

It was the season when both blossoms were at their peak; the rich gold and delicate peach pink formed a feast of color.

Just then a spring breeze swept over, making the flower sea undulate and wafting the peach fragrance to their noses.

No one came or went; there was no clamor of voices.

Only floral scent, the flower sea, wind, and birdsong.

What they saw and felt seemed like a dream.

Gu Xixi murmured, "It's so beautiful, it's like we've entered a fairyland beyond the world."

Then she looked at An Qinghe, who let out a whoop and flung himself into the forsythia thicket.

"So many flowers—I know this one! Forsythia is a medicinal herb; if Lao Langzhong saw it, he'd be thrilled!"

"We three are incredibly lucky—this place hides so many flowers, yet nobody else has found it?"

"We've got the whole place to ourselves!!"

An Qinghe, grinning foolishly, shouted while sprinting wildly through the flowers.

Gu Xixi couldn't help laughing, "Don't you think this scene looks just like a little dog frolicking?"

He Jinglan couldn't help laughing a few times, nodded and said, "Where's the resemblance? This obviously is!"

At that moment, An Qinghe ran forward again.

He ran backward happily, waving his arms at the two behind him, "What are you two standing around for? Don't forget the peach trees are fruit trees too—let's hurry over and have a look!"

He Jinglan and Gu Xixi weren't in a hurry; hearing that, they merely fell into a leisurely pace behind him.

He Jinglan remarked disparagingly, "Having said we're out to play, we should set aside worries and enjoy ourselves fully—but he, upon seeing such lovely peach blossoms, immediately thinks of fruit trees."

Gu Xixi smiled, pursing her lips, "But peach trees are fruit trees by nature."

She too was actually quite interested, gazing ahead and saying,

"However, I don't know who owns this peach grove, or whether they'd allow us to approach."

He Jinglan replied, "No problem—the owner has already given prior consent."

Gu Xixi's steps halted; in that instant she already had an answer in mind, though she couldn't yet be certain.

So she quietly looked at He Jinglan, waiting for her to continue.

He Jinglan this time was quite candid, "From the moment we disembarked the boat until now, all this ground belongs to the Regent Prince's estate."

She gazed ahead and said, "Before last winter, this was merely unclaimed wasteland."

The peach grove you see is also just a patch of wild peach trees; no one knows what year or month it started growing.

It was probably the year after my older brother and Mu Nan Zhao finished the provincial exam, when they went riding to enjoy spring and accidentally stumbled upon this place and discovered it.

Later it became a secret base known only to the three of us.

He Jinglan said this, paused, then turned to Gu Xixi: "Last year when Mu Nan Zhao returned to the capital, the Emperor naturally wanted to reward him for his merits; besides returning his original residence, he was originally going to bestow much gold, silver, wealth, and beauties, etc."

But he didn't want those riches and beauties; he only asked the Emperor for a piece of land.

The Emperor didn't immediately agree, and ordered the Ministry of Revenue to investigate; they found out that this piece of land was just an ownerless wasteland.

It has no mineral resources, and it's not suitable for reclamation and grain farming.

Moreover, because the humidity is high, even the nearby farming villagers don't bury their graves here.

Besides being near water and having slightly better scenery, with some wild willow trees and wild peach trees that never bear fruit, there are no other advantages.

The Emperor dispelled his doubts, summoned Mu Nan Zhao to his presence and asked the reason; you guess what he said?

Gu Xixi pondered for a moment, "He said, nothing much, he just likes it."

He Jinglan chuckled, "You really do understand him quite well; although not exactly the same, it's pretty close."

She glanced mischievously at Gu Xixi, "He said, because he thought someone would like it, he had it brought over, and afterwards she can play with it however she wants."

Gu Xixi's ears felt a bit hot, but her expression remained calm.

It seems he also understands me to some extent; after all, it wasn't for nothing that I took him in for so long.

He Jinglan smiled and winked at Gu Xixi, "How about it, seeing this gift with your own eyes, are you at least a little happy?"

Gu Xixi neither affirmed nor denied, and then asked, "Why didn't he come? Or rather..."

She restrained her smile, "Could it be that he's actually in the peach grove ahead?"

"No." He Jinglan said, "You also think it's not like his usual style, right?"

If it were in the past, he would definitely have appeared here, then coolly asked you what you thought.

But when he left the Flower Planting Hall, he told me he wouldn't come today.